1. Field of the Disclosure
The present invention relates generally to systems and methods for determining an item suggested by a retailer for a user to purchase prior to an upcoming transaction at point of sale terminal. In particular, examples of the present invention are related to techniques for generating a notification indicating an item suggested by a retailer for a user to purchase based on at least one of a purchase history of the user and one or more items the user currently possesses.
2. Background
Point of sale terminals in shopping facilities can include self-checkout devices and facility attendant-operated checkout devices. Proximate to such point of sale terminals is a designated area where customers wait in line to conduct transactions at the point of sale terminals. This area is generally known as the checkout lane.
Shopping facilities often include impulse shelves in the checkout lane often stocking a plurality of products offered by the shopping facility for a customer to obtain and purchase during an upcoming transaction at the point of sale terminal. The plurality of stocked products at the impulse shelves often include products such as candy, snacks, batteries, magazines/circulars, and soft drinks to grab a customers attention for making an impulse purchase at the upcoming transaction. Hence, the plurality of stocked products are selected to appeal to any and all customers waiting in the check-out lane.
One drawback of simply stocking products on impulse shelves in the checkout lane is that much of the retail space includes products entirely undesirable to some customers, and thus retail space is wasted on those those customers. For instance, impulse shelves including a plurality of candy bars stocked would be wasted on a customer that is Diabetic because that customer would generally never be purchasing candy. Another drawback of impulse shelves is that there is no way of stocking products tailored toward each potential customer waiting in the checkout lane.
Corresponding reference characters indicate corresponding components throughout the several views of the drawings. Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of various embodiments of the present invention. Also, common but well-understood elements that are useful or necessary in a commercially feasible embodiment are often not depicted in order to facilitate a less obstructed view of these various embodiments of the present invention.